Winnipeg Jets in Europe - September Recap

AIH looks back at the games played thus far in Europe and how members, and some former members, of the Winnipeg Jets have fared thus far in game action as the NHL continues to lockout the NHLPA back in North America

Winnipeg Jets in Europe - Sunday September 30, 2012

5 games to follow across 3 leagues in Sunday action, as AIH catches up with games in the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia on an American website about a Canadian team. We're international!

• We kick it off in the Czech Republic, where Ondrej Pavelec continues to be anything but impressive and is just creating more and more questions like "Is it really going to be this bad for the Jets?" and "I sure hope Al Montoya plays as good as his mask looks!" and "What is a Mark Dekanich?"
  Pavelec and his Bílí Tygři Liberec squad would fall 5-4 in OT to Oceláři Třinec, as giving up a 5 on 3 powerplay in overtime is a pretty good way to ensure defeat. Allowing 5 goals on 38 shots doesn't help either. With this result Pavelec "improves" his record to 0-2-2, and has yet to play a game in which he allows fewer than 4 goals.
  Players of the game were Radek Bonk (remember him?) for Oceláři Třinec and Petr Nedved (remember him?) for Bílí Tygři Liberec HC.
• Over to Germany, where Brett Festerling and Nürnberg team Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers hosted the Straubing tigers in a game with a thrilling finish. With Nürnberg up 2-1 late in the third, Straubing would tie it up via a goal by Tyler Beechey with 2:27 to play. The game seemed destined for OT until with just 33 seconds to play Connor James would net the winner for Nürnberg who take this one 3-2. Festerling would finish with 2 shots and a +1 rating on the night, as he remains (statistically) pointless.
• The tour continues in Russia, where Mark Flood and his Lokomtiv Yaroslavl sqaud visited Vityaz Chekhov. Once again, Flood would go with scoring in this match, as he has yet to do so this season. However, Vitaly Kolesnik would pick up his second shutout in as many games on the road and Lokomotiv would prevail by a 2-0 margin thanks to 2 third period goals. Kolesnik is now 6-2-2 on the year with a save percentage of 94.1% and a GAA of 1.87. He is quickly becoming my favorite to replace Pavelec.
  Flood finished with a +1 rating and 4 shots in 18:26 of ice time.
• As we head over to Ukraine we find HC Donbass, Aelexei Ponikarovsky's club, taking on Spartak Moscow. This game would go scoreless through regulation, and overtime. In fact it would take 14 shots in the shootout before a victor was determined, as Spartak eventually prevailed. Erik Ersberg earned the shutout for Donbass, while Sergei Borisov earned the shutout for Spartak. Ponikarovsky would play 19:31 and manage one shot on goal. He was not called upon in the shootout.
• In Belarus I find out that Pekka Rinne has joned up with Dinamo Minsk, making this team that much more formidable, with Evander Kane and Tim Stapleton signed on already. Rinne would make his first start of the year and pick up a 3-2 win over Atlant Moscow Region. The visiting team from Russia would jump out to a 2-0 lead, but Minsk would come back and little Steam Punk with pick up a secondary assist on the game winner in the second period. Stapleton would play 20:53 and would add a +1 and shot on goal to go with that assist. He currently sits at 15th in points in the KHL.

Winnipeg Jets in Europe - Saturday September 29, 2012

As mentioned in a previous story today, it doesn't appear that Tobias Enstrom will be lacing them up for MODO anytime soon, so SEL coverage will be minimal unless/until that happens.

However, there is still plenty of other action to cover, including the Kontinental Hockey League which saw 2 Jets in action today.

• Nik Antropov and the boys of Barys Astana hosted Metallurg Novokuznetsk, and despite outshooting their visitors 42 to 29, they would end up on the losing end by a 5-1 margin. Nigel Dawes of Winnipeg would open the scoring for Barys, with another Winnipegger (Dustin Boyd) getting the secondary assist. Barys would end up shooting itself in the foot, however, by taking dumb penalties that resulted in two separate 5 on 3 situations that both resulted in goals. Alexander Lazushin was pounded for 20 shots in the opening period, but only allowed the one goal that period and no others throughout the game. With the win Metallurg Nk leapfrogs Barys Astana in the standings, as Metallurg Nk sits at 3-1-1-2-1-3 for 16 points, while Barys Astana is at 4-0-0-0-2-5 and 14 points. In the KHL it's 3 points for a win in regulation, 2 for a win in overtime or shootout, 1 point for an OT loss or shootout loss and nothing for losing in regulation.
• So, now that we know all that we can look at the team of Arturs Kulda, Sibir Novosibirsk, that sits in a share of the league lead with 22 points in 11 games after their 3-2 shooutout win today over Yugra Khanty- Mansiysk, who occupy the basement of the KHL (a very seedy place). Sibir sits with a record of 5-0-3-0-1-2 and likely should have had a better result on the day if Mikhail Biryukov hadn't turned aside 40 of 42 shots (and 4 of 5 in shootout. Kulda managed a +1 rating and 5 shots on goal in 28:18. He was also turned aside by Biryukov in the shootout, as he was the first shooter for Sibir.

Winnipeg Jets in Europe - Friday September 28, 2012

3 Jets saw action today, and while perusing the scores the sight of Bílí Tygři Liberec winning 7-5 made me go "Oh boy, Ondrej Pavelec allowed 5 goals". Luckily, Pavelec was not playing so his streak of allowing 4 goals a game remains at 3.

2 Jets defensemen were in action on Friday, with Mark Flood playing for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL, and Brett Festerling playing for the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers of the DEL, a club based in Nürnberg.

• Staffan Kronwall opened the scoring for Flood's Lokomotiv squad in the first period with a powerplay goal, and that was it. Vitaly Kolesnik picked up his first shutout of the year, and Flood finished with 2 PIMs, 1 shot and exactly 21 minutes of ice time.
• Brett Festerling and his Nürnberg team took on Adler Mannheim. Festerling would be on the ice when his team opened the scoring in the first, which ended up giving him a +1 rating on the night. Adler Mannheim would replay with 3 goals before Nürnberg would respond with a too little, too late goal with an extra attacker on the ice, as the game ended 3-2 for Adler Mannheim. Festerling would pick up a pair of minor penalties in the second period to give him 4 PIMs on the night.

Evander Kane to Join KHL Team HC Dinamo Minsk for Lockout, Reuniting him with Tim Stapleton.

Kane and Dinamo Minsk look to have the young forward in the lineup in time for Tuesday's match against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

Evander Kane to join Dinamo Minsk, reuniting him with Tim Stapleton.

In news out of Belarus today, HC Dinamo Misnk have announced that Evander Kane has agreed to join the team during the lockout, which would see him playing with Tim Stapleton, who also donned Polar Night Blue with the Jets last year.

Kane is one of the biggest Canadian names to make the jump overseas thus far, although not quite as prolific as Rick Nash and Joe Thornton playing in Switzerland.

Dinamo Minsk is hoping to have Kane available for their game against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl on Tuesday, the club of another former Jet: Mark Flood. Certain things like work visas need to be resolved before that can be a reality, but there still seems to be a good chance Kane is in a Dinamo uniform after the weekend.

Kane, of course, is coming off a 30 goal season with the Jets that saw him rewarded with a 6 year, 31.5 million dollar contract this past offseason.

Winnipeg Jets in Europe - Thursday September 27, 2012

Once again we fail to see the debut of Tobias Enstrom for MODO of the Swedish Elitserien. I'm assuming insurance matters are what is keeping him off the ice at this point, but that's an uncertainty.

3 Winnipeg Jets WERE in action today, 2 of which played against one another:

• Nik Antropov and Barys Astana hosted Sibir Novosibirsk, club of choice for Arturs Kulda. The game would finish with Antro and his Leopards teammates emerging victorious by a 2-1 margin. Kulda found himself in the penalty box in the first period, and Barys Astana would capitalize with a powerplay goal, on which Antro got a secondary assist. They would double their lead in the second period and once again Antro got a secondary assist, but this time the goal came at even strength. Sibir would pull one back early in the 3rd period, but that would be all the scoring on this night. Antropov finished with 2 assists, a +1 rating and 5 shots on goal in 17:06 worth of ice time. Kulda would emerge with 2 shots on goal, 4 PIMs and 23:56 of ice time.
• HC Donabass Donetsk, club of Alexei Ponikarovsky, would visit Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and would end up the victors via a 4-3 shootout win. Ponikarovsky opened the scoring late in the first period, and that would be his most significant contribution to the stat sheet tonight. He would finish with a +1 rating and 2 shots on goal in 19:50 time on ice.

Winnipeg Jets in Europe - Wednesday September 26, 2012

Today marks our first glance at Winnipeg Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who recently signed a 5 year 19.5 million dollar deal. Recent sightings in the Czech Republic have been less than kind, as Pavs opened the Extraliga season with 2 losses.

Wednesday also saw a certain Steam Punk in action...

• Tim Stapleton continued his scoring ways as his Dinamo Minsk squad travelled to face Amur Khabarovsk. Steam Punk would score in the 1st to make the game 1-1 before his side eventuall prevailed 3-2. He finished with 3 shots in 16:46 of ice time.
• Ondrej Pavelec and his Bílí Tygři Liberec hosted Skoda Plzen HC. Liberec would go down 3-0 before tying things up 3-3. Martin Straka of former NHL fame would score the winner in what I believe was a shootout, based on what I can determine. Pavelec would end up turning aside 36 of 40 shots, for a 90% save percentage night.

Winnipeg Jets in Europe - Tuesday September 25, 2012

Winnipeg Jets fans wanting to see Tobias Enstrom suit up for MODO were made to wait Tuesday, as the defender did not play as his team took on Brynas of the Elitserien.

However, there were 2 Jets in action, and they just so happened to be facing each other.

• Alexei Ponikarovsky and his Donbass Donetsk team travelled to face Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, which features Mark Flood. Flood's side emerged victorious, but neither man found a way to score. Flood walked away with a stat line of 21:01 TOI and a whole lot of zeros, while Poni played 17:50 and managed a shot on goal.

Winnipeg Jets in Europe - Monday September 24, 2012

Monday night saw 3 different Winnipeg Jets take the ice, with all 3 of them picking up goals.

• Tim Stapleton had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 defeat for his Dinamo Minsk at the hands of Metallurg Novokuznetsk. His goal came when Minsk had pulled the goalie and brought them within one, but it was not enough for the home side to get a point. He finished with 20:20 TOI, a +1 rating and 7 shots on the night.
• Arturs Kulda and his Sibir Novosibirsk hosted Severstal Cherepovets Monday night. Kulda opened the scoring early in the 1st period and that would end up being the game winning goal as Sibir prevailed 3-0. Kulda finished with a +1 rating, 2 PIM and 2 shots in 26:31 seconds, a game high.
• Nik Antropov Angry! Antro managed to get himself a goal in a 4-2 away loss for his Barys Astana Leopards against Slovan Bratislava. But something about being in Slovakia didn't sit well with Antro and he got in this "fight". Antro would finish with a statline of 5 PIM, a -2 rating and 4 shots on goal.

Winnipeg Jets Euro Tracker - September Edition

Arctic Ice Hockey tracks the progress of Winnipeg Jets players in Europe as they spend the lockout playing overseas.